Miami's mystique
Orange Bowl stops yet another long win streak
Posted: Saturday December 05, 1998 11:42 PM
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Miami's Matt Sweeney celebrates another Hurricane upset victory at the Orange Bowl AP |
MIAMI (AP) -- It's old. It's decrepit. It has none of the frills
or conveniences of modern-day stadiums. Even its namesake game
doesn't come around much anymore.
Yet on Saturday, the Orange Bowl once again became the place
where long winning streaks come to sudden stops.
No. 3 UCLA's 49-45 loss to Miami marked the fourth time in
history that a team has seen a winning streak of at least 20 games
end in the venerable old facility.
"You've got to love it," said Edgerrin James, who put the
Hurricanes ahead to stay on a 1-yard touchdown run with 50 seconds
left, capping a 299-yard, three-TD performance. "We had the crowd
into it and everything."
Saturday's frantic finish, with Miami overcoming a 31-17 deficit
and a pass by UCLA's Cade McNown landing on the end line as time
expired, was only the latest drama to unfold in the shadow of the
palms that guard the east end zone.
It was where Doug Flutie secured the 1984 Heisman Trophy, when
his 48-yard heave fell into the arms of Gerard Phelan as time
expired to give Boston College a 47-45 triumph over the Hurricanes.
What many forget is that just two weeks earlier, Maryland staged
what still is the greatest comeback in NCAA history. The Terrapins
trailed 31-0 with 12:35 left in the third quarter, then rolled off
six TDs for a 42-40 win.
And it was where upstart Miami won its first national title,
derailing a 1983 Nebraska team many were hailing as the best ever.
The Cornhuskers, with Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, entered
the 1984 Orange Bowl on a 22-game roll. They left 31-30 losers,
after Ken Calhoun batted down Turner Gill's two-point conversion
pass with 48 seconds left.
That was the first time Miami brought and end to a winning
streak of at least 20 games.
The longest was Notre Dame's 23 consecutive wins, which ended
November 25, 1989, with a 27-10 Miami victory. Oklahoma's 20-game
streak ended at the 1988 Orange Bowl with a 20-14 loss to the
Hurricanes.
Miami and Princeton now are the only schools in NCAA history to
break winning streaks of 20 or more games on four occasions, and
Princeton's all happened before 1906.
The only streak, it seems, to have flourished in the tropics was
Miami's 58-game home winning streak from 1985-94, an NCAA record.
The Hurricanes beat four No. 1 teams at the Orange Bowl during the
streak, including the Notre Dame and Oklahoma wins.
"That's the kind of atmosphere we want to have again," Miami
tackle Joaquin Gonzalez said.
Built in 1937, the stadium doesn't get the kind of action it
once did. It held five Super Bowls, but none since 1979. The NFL's
Miami Dolphins departed more than a decade ago.
The Orange Bowl itself left two years ago, the subject of
rancorous debate before television concerns and modern amenities
moved the game to Pro Player Stadium. Only a potential conflict
with the Dolphins is bringing this season's game back for an
encore.
But as many in the crowd of 46,819 stormed the field to
celebrate 1998's most thrilling conclusion, it felt like old times
again.
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